The $20 billion South Stream project is the centerpiece of Russia’s
strategy of bypassing Ukraine while still remaining the principal gas
supplier to the European Union.

Bulgaria’s government calls South Stream strategic
and vital to securing its energy security. But as a member of the
European Union Bulgaria is obliged to follow EU regulations that require
third-party access on connections into the EU energy grid.

Gazprom has not requested a waiver, arguing that third-party and
environmental restrictions were not applied to its Nordstream pipeline
under the Baltic to Germany, which was completed two years ago. EU
officials say Russia’s annexation of Crimea is a game changer that puts
South Stream in a different category.

Energy specialists say if the EU hangs tough, South Stream could be
delayed for many months, if not longer. For its part, the European
Parliament last month passed a non-binding resolution calling for South
Stream’s cancellation.

Arrayed against energy sanctions are powerful business interests in
Germany, Austria and Italy that would profit from the pipeline. Even
after Crimea, Austrian energy firm OMV signed an agreement with Gazprom
to bring South Stream to its gas hub near the Austria-Hungary border by
2017.

Ukraine’s May 25th election is likely to be an important marker
determining South Stream’s fate. The EU and the U.S. have said that if
Russia interferes with the voting they will move to sectoral sanctions
that likely would include oil and gas.

American officials have long urged Europe to lessen its dependence on
Russian energy. Currently Russia supplies one-third of EU’s natural gas.
And while Russia’s Ukraine actions have altered the strategic balance, a
proposed alternative pipeline called Nabucco(Nabucco, down but now out, depending on who rules Iran? There are previous posts here on that pipeline)that would have brought
Central Asian gas to Europe fell apart last year.

Russia has found willing allies for South Stream in Bulgaria and Hungary
as well as non-EU member Serbia. Russia promises that South Stream will
create 5,000 construction jobs in those countries, where unemployment
is high. The pipeline would pass through northwestern Bulgaria, the EU’s
poorest region, where the jobless rate exceeds 25%.

Russia’s intense lobbying is paying dividends. Serbian President
Tomislav Nikolic calls South Stream the most important foreign
investment in his country. “Russian gas,” he says, “is the realization
of Serbia’s energy dream.” However, as an aspiring EU member Belgrade
wants to avoid conflict with Brussels.

EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger, who is German, has been
ambivalent on the issue. He told London’s Financial Times that in light
of events in Ukraine he is not inclined to grant Gazprom a waiver on
South Stream. However he told Vienna’s Der Standard newspaper that the
pipeline “is not a problem for me. We don’t want to block it, but it
does not have priority either,” Oettinger emphasizes that South Stream
merely reroutes Russian exports without bringing additional gas to
Europe. Nordstream and South Stream together could handle most of the
Russian gas that currently transits Ukraine.

Keep this in mind- Former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder holds a top job in that Gazprom-led consortium.

Think about this?

War is .....

...THE CONTINUATION OF STATE POLICY, BY OTHER MEANS

.......A POLITICAL ACTIVITY IN WHICH VIOLENCE IS USED TO BEND THE WILL OF YOUR ENEMY TO THAT OF YOUR OWN

Stop being Manipulated by the Elites

For if you [the rulers] suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves [outlaws] and then punish them.´ - Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)

Resource: Ukraine Military Marker

How your brain works

“‘Each thought and behavior is embedded within the circuitry of the neurons, and…neuronal activity accompanying or initiating an experience persists in the form of reverberating neuronal circuits, which become more strongly defined with repetition”

Richard Restak

Unshackle YOUR mind

'The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed'- Steve Biko

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Edward Bernays: Perception Management it is a Reality

"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society,"

"Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. . . . In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons . . . who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind."

About Me

This blog is a place to not only post information that will never see the light of day on the mainstream media, but, also to present alternative perspectives to main stream media information, that most often presents no background, no context, and never questions the information presented.
The name I chose, Penny for your thoughts, is an invitation to readers to share their relevant thoughts on the varying information.